Friday, October 26, 2007

This morning the Georgia Supreme Court ordered theimmediate release of Genarlow Wilson from state prison,holding that Wilson's ten year mandatory sentence violated the U.S. constitution's bar on "cruel and unusualpunishment."

Wilson was convicted of an underage sex crime, having oral sex with a 15 year old girl. Wilson was 17 at the time. The sexact was consensual. Wilson spend two years in prison for this.

The Georgia Supreme Court was right. What is wrong is lawslike this. Georgia's legislature has since changed its law (but did not make it retroactive) but there are other similar laws on the books in many states, and not just in "backward" orsouthern states. In a case in Miami a 14 year old girl was dating and having sex with her 17 year old boyfriend. The girl's parents found out about it and forbade her from seeing the boy again. They grounded her and wouldn't let her leave her room. The girl crawled out the window one night to be with and have sex with her boyfriend. The boy was arrested for a felony. That law is still on Florida's books.

Besides changes in the law (Georgia reduced the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor) what is needed at least as much is greater discretion and common sense on the part of police officers and prosecutors. Each has discretion in enforcing the law. The police do not have to arrest some-one even when a crime has been committed and many, many times don't. More importantly, prosecutors do not have to file cases, and many, many, many times don't. The prosecutor's job, his only job is to seek justice.Cowed legislators respond to public pressure by enactingdraconian laws, cowed police officers make arrests they'dprobably just as soon not, and cowed prosecutors file caseswith too little concern for justice. What is needed is more courage and less cowing. This is Public Occurrences.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

There are so many issues raised by Dr. James Watson's recent(and more recently retracted) remarks that people of Africandescent are genetically less intelligent than others. In roughorder of importance:

(1) The pain and humiliation that the remarks caused to blackpeople. If it were true that black people were genetically lessintelligent than others no public policy would be changed as aresult. For example, governments would not forbid racialintermarriage to reduce the number of intellectually-challenged children, employers would not stop hiringblack people, etc. Nothing would change. So the only result ofproof that black people were genetically less intelligent wouldbe the pain and humiliation that it causes black people. That isbad.

(2) It is particularly bad that these statements were made by aNobel laureate. If I made them or some other non-scientisthadmade them they would be dismissed as unimportant racistramblings. When a Nobel laureate, and one who won the prizein the relevant field of biology, makes them, they aredevastating because they assume the imprimatur of expertise.

(3) Intelligence, either in individuals or in races, is not the most

important quality in human beings. Goodness is. No one arguesthat one race is superior or inferior to the others in morality.My race and Dr. Watson's race, Caucasians, have produced injustthe last century the most murderous behavior that theworldwith all of its races, has ever known. This was at a timewhenthe fruits of our supposedly superior intellect--scienceandtechnology--was at its most advanced. I get angry anddefensivewhen I read others, such as Jared Diamond, claimthat Caucasians are less intelligent than other races. As I havewritten here before I am proud to be white,male, living in thenorthern and western hemispheres, and American. But Iamnot proud of what my race did in the 20th century.

(4) Although I know not what public policy it informs, researchinto and discussion of inherent racial differences should not besuppressed. As a non-scientist I don't know if Dr. Watson'sinitial claims are true. I read and I've never read of anycredible scientific reports that substantiate his initial claims. If I'mwrong I would like to see the studies widely publishedanddiscussed by the experts. If I'm right, and as Dr. Watson hassaid in subsequent comments, that there is no suchevidencethen his initial statements are both mean-spirited as well asunintelligent.And I would like to see research intoracialdifferences ingoodness as well. I don't know whyintelligenceget so much attention.(5) I do share Dr. Watson's bleak view of Africa. As has beenwritten here before, "It is hard to stay positive" when a head ofstate believes he can cure AIDS by reading the Koran,sprinkling magic water and chanting over victims. That was just one example recently in the news. High officials in orformerlya part of the government of South Africa have madesimilar,floridly ignorant comments about AIDS. And thenthere'sRobert Mugabe.However, I don't think it's RobertMugabe'srace that has made him such a tyrant any more than I think it'srace that made Hitler, Stalin and Mao such tyrants.

(6) I mean this sincerely and not meanly, does Dr. Watsonsuffer from any mental problem, such as Alzheimer's? He isaged and his initial statements seem to me so ridiculous and hisretraction so immediate and categorical that I wondered if hedidn't suffer from some mental impairment, although Ihaveread that he has made similar statements in the past.Perhapshe's just a mean man.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

As the first and only Chinese-American in Congress, and as a lawyer, you are uniquely positioned to be receptive to this request for assistance in the investigation into the murder of BianZhongyun.

Bian was beaten to death on August 5, 1966 by her Red Guard students at the privileged Girls School Attached to Beijing Normal University. She was the first educator to be murdered by students in the Cultural Revolution. All of her attackers were girls.

The historical significance of Bian's murder was made complete on August 18, 1966 when Song Binbin, the leader of the Red Guards at Bian's school, was given the honor of pinning a Red Guard armband onto Mao Zedong. The photograph of that moment is one of the most famous of the twentieth century. The occasion was the first rally of Red Guards in Tianenmen Square. Over a million were in attendance.

Bian's murder has ever since been a subject of interest to many. Two films, Though Iam Gone, by HuJie, and the pseudo-documentary Morning Sun, by Red Guard sympathizer Carma Hinton, have been produced in the last few years. The latter was partially funded by your and my tax dollars through the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Although some courageous people, such as HuJie and Dr. Youqin Wang of the University of Chicago, have kept the memory of Bian's murder alive, only one of the perpetrators has been named, LiuTingting, daughter of the then President of China, LiuShaoqi. Ms. Liu was one of those who beat Bian on August 5 but there were others, three or four, who committed most of the violence and they have never been named.

It's not for lack of witnesses that those responsible have not been identified. The beating was a public spectacle carried out in front of the student body in broad daylight. The beating lasted for hours. In similar public circumstances Bian was also beaten on June 23 and August 4. After the former beating Bian made a futile written appeal to the Beijing municipal authorities.

LiuTingting, Song Binbin and a host of other former Red Guards subsequently immigrated to the United States and started new lives. LiuTingting is now a wealthy, jet-setting business consultant with a residence on Central Park. Song, the most infamous of the Red Guards, changed her name to Yan Song once in the U.S., got her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and had homes in Lexington and Concord, the birthplaces of the American Revolution. Others, such as Weili Ye, are comfortably ensconsed in academia. None have even been questioned about their actions during the murderous period of the Cultural Revolution that resulted in an estimated 3,000,000 killed.

With the above as background these are the specific issues that I am asking for your assistance on:

(1) How did Song Binbin and LiuTingting get into this country? I would respectfully request that you provide me with their immigration forms in order to determine if either made any false or misleading statements there on.(2) How could the National Endowment for the Humanities fund Morning Sun? What vetting of content occurred or didn't occur that led to N.E.H.'s approval for funding? I would respectfully ask that you provide me with Ms. Hinton's application and any internal N.E.H.documents that informed their decision.

Congressman, your website says that you will not respond to email from folks outside of your C.D., that all other correspondence must be in writing, so I will send this to you in letter form.

Finally, I just ask that you not send me a form letter in response. If you do not wish to assist no response is necessary.

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